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Apparently, the jackpot amount in our state lotto this week is at a record, humongo amount. So, everybody - even those who do not regularly play - are all fired up about buying the winning ticket. Which leads me to this question - How do you feel about Christians playing the lottery?

Most often the biblical reasons given for not playing the lotto center around the money aspect - the spiritual perils of loving money, coveting, and being preoccupied with the things of this World. (Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:10 and many other scriptures). We are also expected to be good stewards of the money God has allowed us to have. So, throwing our money away on something that, statistically, is never going to happen is not cool. (Don't even get me started on how the lottery exploits the poor).

Yet, I find that my best answer for this question was provided by my mom - the most solid Christian woman I have ever known. I heard her say more than once that "we" don't play the lottery because "It's gambling", she said, "it's a game of "chance". And chance is not what Christians live by. We don't place our hope in odds or luck, but in God and a living Savior that know our steps backward and forward. God has plans for our future already (Jeremiah 29:11). Nothing about that is chance.

Can I get your opinion on Christians playing the lottery, by chance? (s0rry)

Jeremiah 29:11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

Matthew 6:19-21“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Ok. The Kavanaugh thing. Unless you’re blessed to live an internet-free life, you know all about the current big deal with the Supreme Court nomination of this guy and accusations of sexual assault in his past. A major political situation (circus) that gets more and more ugly by the hour.

Look. I don’t know what happened or what didn’t happen in the Kavanaugh case. I wasn’t there. These matters should be left in the hands of those above my pay grade, on earth and in heaven. Yet, as this all relentlessly unfolds and unravels before us on the 24/7 news, I am finding a story within a story that has given me a bit of Christian pause. And that story is Redemption.

Now, hang on a minute. I’m not referring specifically to Kavanaugh here, whether he is ‘redeemed’ or not for what might have happened. I have no way of knowing that and, frankly, it’s really none of my business.

I’m talking here about the bigger picture of Redemption, as a Biblical concept and the basis for what we believe as Christians. I’m talking about a person, any and every person, being forgiven and transformed by God, through Jesus, because they repented from a wrong. Do you believe redemption is possible?

Well, of course I believe that, Abby. That’s Christianity 101 stuff.

All right. But, are you (am I) a practicing redemptionist? (I’m pretty sure that’s not a word). Is a redemptive heart at the core of who I am, what I do, how I think? OR….

Am I a vengeance-seeker?

Am I waiting for someone to admit their wrong to me (or say they’re “sorry”) before I can heal?

Do I consider Truth a judicial concept?

Just a little self-check moment, I’m thinking. Now, back to you in the studio.

They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24 (HCSB)

This Letter begins with Screwtape expressing satisfaction that the young man has now been "friended" by the 'cool people' in his social circle: those "thoroughly reliable...steady...consistent scoffers and wordlings who without any spectacular crimes are progressing quietly and comfortably toward Our Father's (the devil's) house". Apparently, Wormwood has observed and reported back that these hipsters are "'great laughers", and Screwtape takes up this topic as important with his understudy.

The demons are interested in what makes us laugh, apparently, and they have divided our laughter into 4 sources or types: Joy, Fun, Joke Proper, and Flippancy. The first, joy, is a very familiar concept for us as Believers (I wrote a post a while back about joy vs. happiness), and the demons totally get that joy is a God concept. So, pretty much, they know they can never mess with our true joy in the Lord, and they hate that. Screwtape describes joy as a disgusting and "direct insult to the realism, dignity, and austerity of Hell". Now, if that wouldn't make you want to pursue joy, I don't know what would.

The demons are not particularly interested, from a soul-crushing perspective, in human fun, either. As Screwtape laments, fun can promote "charity, courage, contentment, and many other evils" (remember, "evils" to the demons are those things that keep our eyes on God). The only time demons have any potential interest in our fun-having is when it diverts our attention away from God and onto what we are feeling or doing.

​Now, Jokes, are starting to get into the devil's territory. Let's be real -- most jokes are based on the inappropriateness of something, usually sex. We laugh at dirty jokes because we are either uncomfortable or because we just like talking about sex. And when we're not laughing and joking about sex, Screwtape says, we're finding humor in "destroying shame" - in other words, making ourselves feel better about our own meanness, cowardice, and cruelty by cracking a joke (as in "practical joke"). As Lewis writes, there's no straighter shot to damnation than when we assume we can do pretty much anything we want "if only it can be treated as a joke".

But, flippancy is the "best of all", according to Screwtape. Flippant people make a joke out of virtue - or, at least, act as if virtue is funny. This clever crowd operates under the assumption that the joke "has already been made, although no one ever really makes it" and approaches every serious subject "in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it". How convenient, I'm thinking. If you can just maintain flippance (is that a word?) about everything, then you can pretty much go through life without any meaningful values, virtues, or convictions. However, as Lewis writes, flippancy is "a thousand miles away from joy; it deadens instead of sharpens the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practise it" (So true. Mean Girls are even mean to each other).

So, I gotta ask: What makes you (me) laugh? What do I (you) find humor in?

What we find funny says a lot about our spiritual condition. And that's no joke.

​Abby

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I was on a cross country flight recently on my way to visit family. I boarded the plane and sat down next to an older lady who smiled at me even though I accidentally bumped her arm with my bag.

The lady appeared to be African-American, quite small in frame. She was seated next to the window, with her sweater cupped over her shoulders like a blanket. I noticed her dainty hands, they reminded me of my mom’s. Her fingers were slender and crooked, knotted at the joints from a lifetime of use, but still smooth and well-manicured. She wore a diamond band on her left ring finger. The lady’s complexion was the color of a golden brown Bartlett pear when perfectly ripe. She had a few freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose like pixie dust that gave her face a sparkle that matched her eyes. Her clothes were classic business that could’ve been purchased last week or 30 years ago, and her hair was neatly coiffed showing less gray than mine.

Early in the flight, the attendant came around to serve drinks, and as I passed the lady’s cup of water over to her, we began one of those typical airplane conversations. I introduced myself and told her I was on my way to visit my grandkids. She said her name was Evelyn and she was on her way to Atlanta to see her grand-niece. Her voice was clear and kind, and reminded me of my favorite teacher from 2nd grade. When the flight attendant handed out the airline shortbread cookies, I told Evelyn I would save mine and give them to my grandkids in reply to their “What did you bring me?” question. Evelyn thought this was a good idea and she would give hers to her great-niece and nephew in Atlanta. But, they would have to read a Bible verse out loud to her first to earn their cookies.

Evelyn and I began to talk about parenting and grandparenting, and how kids are different today than when we grew up. Young people today have no work ethic, according to Evelyn. They want everything handed to them, she said, and when things don’t go their way, it’s always somebody else’s fault. Evelyn spoke these words not with anger, but with truth and integrity, and a bit of sadness. She told me she had completed a career as a writer and curriculum developer for an agency in her home state. Evelyn said she had been retired from that work for 20 years. If I do the math, that probably makes her now in her 80’s. She didn’t mention how many years she had been married, but Evelyn told me that her husband died 10 years ago. Her daughter worries about her still living on her own, and Evelyn thought that was just silly.

I asked Evelyn if she traveled often and this opened up a book of stories from her library of memories. She told me about traveling all over the United States, just too many cities to count. Then, Evelyn began to tell me about a trip she took with her sister in the late 1980’s to China. It was a dream vacation to a place that Evelyn had always wanted to go. She spoke at length and in vivid detail about her trip to China like she had been there just yesterday. She painted pictures with words of the ornate Buddhist temples and the opulent shrines and monuments in Beijing. But, Evelyn seemed most enamored with the people of China as she admired their grace and dignity living under the pressures of their closed society. She described how their Chinese tour guides seemed grateful for the interaction with outsiders, yet nervous about staying on-script and making sure that the tourists didn’t ask too many questions or observe things they weren’t supposed to. Evelyn giggled as she told me about slipping away unnoticed from the tour group once to explore one of the temples on her own. She hoped she didn’t get her tour guide in trouble with his superiors with her rebellion. Evelyn reflected on telling her sister, as they observed the constricted daily lives of the Chinese citizens, “These people are not going to stand for this for much longer”. Enter Tianenman Square. Was Evelyn prophetic? Perhaps. Empathetic? More than likely, as Oppression is a distinct and esoteric club.Look, I could never know, and I don’t pretend to know, what it meant to be an African American female during Evelyn’s time. But, I do know that she would have every right to be bitter and hateful for what she has lived through. Yet, there was no acrimony in her words, no resentment, no malevolence. All I saw in Evelyn was strength and wisdom and grace.

I said goodbye to Evelyn at the end of our flight. I never saw where she went in the airport, I never saw her great-nieces and nephews meet her. I guess I wanted to see that movie moment when it all came together, all wrapped up in a neat little package. Life rarely happens that way, don’t I know. But, two hours on an airplane with Evelyn taught me that you can be strong without being hard, wise without being judgmental, and beautiful no matter what. ​Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A31&version=HCSB​

My sons are now dads, which makes me a (super cool, way-too-young-to-be) grandma. A couple of my grandsons are entering the teenage years right about now. So, I was talking to one of my sons the other day about how teens will try to push the limits with the parents, how you gotta keep showing them whose still boss, all that, and something I heard way back in Psychology 101 came to mind: Elephant training. Stay with me here....

That chain they hook around the elephant's neck to keep him or her from running away from the zoo, the circus, whatever. Well, you know, an adult elephant could yank that chain right out of the ground any time they wanted to. But they don't. You know why? Because their keepers started putting that chain around their neck when they were young and a lot smaller, while the chain still had a pretty good chance of holding. So, not being particularly knowledgeable on physics, the elephant grows into adulthood believing that chain still holds them, so they never even try to get away.

So, as we're talking, I expertly share this phenomenon with my son, brilliantly applying the elephant story to parenting children - while they are young, maintaining parental authority so they won't question it when they get to be teenagers. Am I a wise sage, or what? But, wait...

A little while later after that conversation, it hit me: the elephant story isn't just about parenting, authority, or animal psychology. There is a spiritual application here!!!

Do you see it?!! In our childhood - literally, when we are young and also in the 'childhood' stage of our faith - we get taught and conditioned to believe certain things. We have bad experiences, people hurt us, life punches in the gut, we mess up, the Enemy convinces us that lies are truth - all forging a "chain" of fear, confusion, or bitterness around our neck. And it stays there and drags us down, over and over and over again. Just like the elephant, we keep that chain around our neck because we don't know (or don't believe) that it can be broken!!!

What chain are you still wearing from your childhood? For that matter, what chain are you wearing from yesterday?

You know you don't have to wear it, right? Jesus broke that thing a long time ago. And, if knowing that's not enough to make ya wanna hoop, holler, and run out into the street and slap somebody, I don't know what would! (Well, OK, forget the slapping somebody part, but anyway).

Oh, and BTW - if the elephant story is a myth, urban legend, or whatever, don't tell me because I really want to like it.

Abby

1 Corinthians 13:11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man,Iput aside childish things. (HCSB)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+13%3A11+&version=HCSB

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Should Christians participate in Halloween? That's certainly not a new question or debate.

Many have said we should not be a part of a holiday based on paganism, mysticism, witchcraft, and evil.

Others might say that Halloween is just a fun time for kids to dress up and get candy, and nothing more.

OK, I get all that. But I have another reason why I'm not big on Halloween, and here it is:

The real world is a scary enough place already - we've got more evil going on right now than we know what to do with. So, why would I want to indulge in horror for the purpose of entertainment? Frankly, I'm just "tricked out". You?

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Ok. I'm a "liberated woman". Liberated by the blood of Jesus. But, even in the world's terms, I'm a pretty modern chick. I'm educated, a professional, fairly smart, financially independent, blah blah blah. Yet, there are some things I don't understand about the current state of females in our society.

Lingerie and underwear are worn as clothes

Dance moves are, let's just say, "provocative"

Selfies look like ads for pornography
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Mouths, as my mama would say, are "filthy"

But...... I want you to respect me and "love me for my mind".
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I'm confused.

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Our Pastor has been on a theme lately, saying more than once that "God is not going to give you B until you've done A". He's mentioned this several times in recent sermons, and it's kind of turned into a 'preaching directly to me' moment. You know, those times when you sit there in the pew, heart thumping, sweating, and hoping to avoid eye contact with the preacher and everybody else in the room.
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Well, I've taken to heart this "A before B" insight. In fact, writing this blog is one of my A's. I fought it pretty hard for a long time. "I don't have time to write a blog right now, God. You know how busy I am at work. Besides, Lord, I'm not qualified to write a Christian anything". Meanwhile, I've been praying like a mama on prom night about some current 'life stuff' (my "B"), and I just don't understand why nothing's happening!

Hmmm, OK..... Well, I guess it can't hurt to go ahead and try the A, the blog. I love to write. I'm OK at it, I guess. Lord knows, I certainly have some 'life material' to write about! So, here I am, doing the A. And you know what? Faith By Dummy has been in print for about 6 months now, and I am starting to see some signs of B! And that's a beautiful thing.

But, before we pass the plate and sing the invitation hymn, I want to be clear on something: This A for B thing is NOT some kind of BOGO, get-rich-quick deal with God. What it is, is a matter of a) getting a little uncomfortable and inconvenienced for what I believe in. It's about b) surrendering to what I know (through prayer) God has called me to do right now. And, c) it's about trust and obedience. THESE are why my B is showing up.

I started the last Letters installment (7 & 8) with a disclaimer, so I hate to start out here with another one. But, I need to - I probably should have included this in the last post. I just want to reiterate that The Screwtape Letters is not the Bible. It is not infallible or unquestionable. It is a fictional work written by a person (C.S. Lewis). So, when I write here about what the Letters 'say' to me, it's my take, my thoughts, my limited understanding --- but it is not, and never will be, the gospel truth (pun intended). Which is why I continually encourage your thoughts, comments, even arguments on my commentary. Ok, now let's have a look at the next Letters. And let me just start by saying that there's so much personal "OUCH" in these Letters, I may need to call a doctor.

Letter 9
Screwtape, again, uses the word "patient" to describe the young man under the watch of the demon-in-training. It has taken me a while to figure out the significance of the term (patient) as used in these Letters, and I think I finally have it. Our pastor, in last week's sermon, made reference to the "sickness of humanity", that we are born, pretty much, a mess. In our humanness, we are weak, lost, and spiritually "sick", hence our "patient-ness". Obviously, the demons get that probably more than we do, and take advantage of our 'infirmity' any chance they get.

On in the Letter, the young demon is reminded by his supervisor that humans are most susceptible to the influence and pullings of "sensual pleasures" when we are in a spiritual "trough" (a term used in the last letter, aka "valley"). Yes, we are also vulnerable to things like sex and alcohol when we are feeling great about ourselves too, yet this tends to be experienced on a more superficial level (not that this is good, but just different). But, when we are in a spiritual hole, we are seeking to fill a void in our soul with things that "feel good" -- a seriously dangerous place to be. And the demons take advantage of that - they call it "exploiting the trough" as they attempt to "get the man's soul and give him nothing in return".

Speaking of human pleasures, here's where it gets really interesting. Screwtape acknowledges that only God is the creator ("inventor") of "healthy", "normal" and "satisfying" pleasures (those that the devil is incapable of producing, btw). Hmmmm... so any human pleasures coming from anywhere besides God - and even those that are inherently from God but have been twisted and perverted (I think I just defined pop culture) - are destructive? Answer = yes, and apparently, the demons get a lot of mileage out of confusing and disordering the Godly human pleasures, to the point they are no longer "natural" or even pleasing to us. As the senior demon explains, their "formula" for our destruction is based on our "ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure".

Another way the demons "exploit the trough" is to capitalize on our thinking that a dry spiritual period in life will last forever, that the funk we are in is a "permanent condition". Which takes us in one of two directions: Despondent and isolated in these thoughts, convincing ourselves we must get out of this spiritual crater solely on the strength of our own will. (Everybody loves a good "I pulled myself up by my own boot straps" story, I know, but nobody ever really accomplishes that. Not really). Or, we just make ourselves comfortable with mediocrity and "moderation" in our spiritual state, content to consider the trough - or, perhaps, even our entire Christianity - "just a phase".

​​Letter 10

Here, Screwtape takes on our social life and how it is a reflection of our spiritual condition. He explains, and I can't argue, that we often tend to lead a double ("parallel") life when it comes to our social relationships. We 'act Christian' when we're with other Believers, but can hang equally well in the company of our friends who are "rich, smart, superficially intelligent, and brightly skeptical about everything in the world" (including about God). Yes, we shift 'who we are' based on 'who we're with'. Now, we're not talking morphing from leading the prayer circle to robbing banks. It's way more subtle (and more dangerous) than that. As Screwtape says, it's about "be(ing) silent when (we) ought to speak and laugh(ing) when (we) ought to be silent". Lewis characterizes this flip-flopping as "betrayal", and it is. And we do it all the time - all in the name of being "hip and cool", "enlightened", "worldly", "open", "tolerant" (watch it, Abby). Then, you know what happens? According to Lewis, we begin to "assume...all sorts of cynical and skeptical attitudes which are not really ours" and, eventually, we "turn into the thing we are pretending to be". Uh oh.

So, with this knowledge of our propensity for parallel living, the demons seek to distract us as long as possible from calling our mad 'social skills' what they really are - 'temptation skills'. This Letter concludes with Screwtape taking a jab at the modern Church for wimping out on teaching about and against temptation because to do so is just too "puritanical" (evangelical?). Did I just hear a collective "ouch"?

Ok, so let's wrap this up with a few Notes (more like Questions) to Self:

What are my pleasures, and are they from God?

Do I currently have any troughs that could be exploited by the Enemy?

Am I assuming or pretending, in some (any) circles, to be something that I"m not?

Am I becoming (or have I already become) whatever I've been pretending to be?

And, lastly, what am I going to do about it?

Final thought: When I think about wishy-washy Christianity, this scripture always comes to mind:

Revelation 3:1616 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. (Holman Christian Standard Bible, HCSB) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+3%3A16&version=HCSB

Abby

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Let's start here with just a quick re-visit of who I am and what this blog is about, as I think it can be relevant to my study and commentary of C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters: I am a regular person, living a regular life, working every day to live out my Christian faith as best I can. And I have taken on the reading of TheLetters in the same way. I know I won't (probably can't) understand everything in this book, but I know that God uses anything, all things - in this case, literature - to speak to me, and I am listening. I purposely have not read any other scholarly commentary on The Screwtape Letters in preparation for this 'book study', as I do not want anybody other than God telling me what these writings mean for me in my Christian walk. Am I going to miss some key points in this work? Yep. Are other readers going to have different insights than me? Yep. Ok, now that I've cleared that up, let's move on.....
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​Letter 7
In this Letter, the demons seem quite pleased with the fact that many of us don't believe in their existence. Obviously, if something is not considered 'real', then it's not given any amount of our attention. This working incognito is a great model for the demons, although they can't seem to decide whether it works best when we do believe in them, or when we don't. Apparently there are advantages (for them) in both, and they are constantly working to perfect both approaches. The best scenario, according to Screwtape, would be for the human to exist as a "Materialist Magician". What the heck does that mean? Well, here's my best, 2-part interpretation of that title: First, "Materialist". This describes those who need something 'material', something tangible, in order to believe anything. Those people who are all about, and only about, "science". (BTW There is nothing wrong with the pursuit of science as long as the Creator of all science is acknowledged to be God). I thought it was cool when Screwtape says that as long as we (humans) limit our conceptualization of the devil to a skinny cartoon character with horns in a red leotard, they're safe.
Ok, now, "Magician". This refers to those who are all into spirits, ghosts, zombies, UFO's, cable television - in other words, they are enamored with "magic" solely as a source of entertainment (I'm sorry, I just have to add here: The "magic" folks believe it's totally plausible for little green men from another planet to invade the earth, but the 'delusional' concept that the Son of God came to earth to die for our sins is just too crazy for them to believe!Huh?) So, basically, if you're both 'material' and 'magic', you're golden as far as the demons are concerned, as you are oblivious to the real-deal, real-time battle going on for your soul.
Interestingly, then Lewis talks about the evil payoffs gained when, as believers (in God and demons), we engage in "extreme devotion". This is when we practice "profound dedication" (thank you, Webster) to any one person, group (yes, even church), or "cause" (yes, even religion) other than God himself. To do so breeds in us hatred, pride, "mutual admiration" (I love that one), cliques, -- pretty much all the things churches have been accused of being (and sometimes rightly so). I love how Lewis says that in extreme devotion "The Cause" becomes our "sponsor" and "meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades" matter more to us than "prayers and sacraments and charity". Now, there's an "ouch".

Letter 8
Screwtape begins this Letter by clarifying for Wormwood the human state of constant and continual "undulation". He first describes humans as "half spirit and "half animal", in that "as spirits they (we) belong to the eternal world, but as animals they (we) inhabit time". And, while our spirit can be directed to an "eternal object" (God), our "bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change". As we seek some level of equilibrium or constancy in life, we "undulate", described by Lewis as a "repeated return to a level from which they (we) repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks". In life, we experience "periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness (aka blessings) that alternate with periods of numbness and poverty". Certainly, we are most vulnerable to the influences of our enemy when we are in the 'troughs' (although, that's not to say that when we're spiritually 'high' we are not vulnerable, as well). In a merciful turn of irony, we allow God to do some of His best work in us when we're in a trough. Screwtape suggests that prayers "offered in the state of dryness" are the ones that please God the most. I am totally on board with this idea, but I am honest enough to ask how many of us ever beg God to put us in a 'trough' so that we can grow nearer to Him?

In Letter 8, Screwtape compares the model of God's desire for possessing our "soul" to that of the demons who simultaneously attempting to do the same. It comes down to how each views our will. Demons aspire to absorb our will into theirs as "food" to their own self-appetite. God, on the other hand, desires for our will to "freely conform to His" in response to His love. As Lewis beautifully compares (and I paraphrase):

The Devil considers us "cattle who can become food"; God wants "servants who can finally become sons"
The Enemy wants to "suck in"; God wants to "give out"
Demons are empty and want to be filled; God is "full and flows over"

Can I get a Hallelujah!!??

Abby

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